Isaiah 35 is a beautiful passage in the Bible (click on the link to read it). It gives great hope and peace to those who know Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Life can be burdensome at times to the extent that it seems there is no real peace to look forward to but this chapter gives hope to the hopeless, future rest for the weary and quenches the thirst of the soul. It reminds me of a young man I know who asked me why God allowed so many terrible things to happen in his life. He was filled with turmoil and was suicidal. He didn't believe there was a God but truly wanted to believe. I explained to him that knowing the Lord Jesus and serving Him doesn't bring riches and a perfect life here on earth as so many people have told him in the past. This is something that hinders many from following Jesus or causes their faith to be shipwrecked (
1 Timothy 1:18-19). There are numerous prosperity preachers and teachers in our pulpits that teach this and make many believe this is so when scripture clearly tells us different. Jesus walked this earth and felt pain and sadness. We are not going to have a perfect life on earth but we do have a different type of peace, the peace that only knowing the Lord can bring. We have the peace to know that God is always there, He never changes and we can depend on Him to always be the same and keep His promises to us. One of those promises is that He has gone away to prepare a place for us:
- “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. ~John 14:1-3
What a wonderful future we have to look forward to. It gives me great peace in knowing this but also lots of sadness to watch so many people living their lives like there isn't a God. My heart aches because of this. We, as Christians, need to be the true examples of Christ. Read your Bible for yourselves and study it to show yourself approved unto God (
2 Timothy 2:15). Be steady in your walk and lead others to Christ. We don't know the day the Lord will return and we certainly want our loved ones to be ready.
In Christ,
Tina
